How to Cook with Dried Beans

I thought if anyone might have the answer to my questions about dried beans, it would be you – I need a “definitive” guide to dealing with dried beans. So far, my Internet and even cookbook searches always yield really varied results. Should I add salt? Vinegar? Baking soda? None of the above?

Is soaking dried beans overnight the same as cooking them? Do the “quick soak” methods really work?

Why won’t they keep cooking once you put them into the recipe (e.g. baked beans)?

I also have a slow cooker that I’d like to use, and have done all right with it sometimes (chickpeas are my friends) but failed miserably other times (black beans seem to elude me…). How do you use a slow cooker with dried beans.

It’s all very confusing. I know dried beans can be a great money saver, and I like knowing what’s in them, but it doesn’t work so well when I ruin every other batch. I’d love some light shed on this subject, or some direction on where to look!

Signed,

Bean There

Heather says:

Whoo boy, slow down a little bit.

I love cooking with dried beans. Well, that isn’t exactly true, I love what cooking with dried beans does for our grocery budget. It took a little while, but so far I have the kids sold on pintos, refried beans, black beans, and occasionally I can get them to go for the tightwad classic beans and rice. I’m working on getting them comfortable with chickpeas, lentils, and kidney beans. It’s a slow process with young kids, but we’re making definite progress.

Should I add salt? Vinegar? Baking soda?

Yes, no, yes. The salt camp is divided, I have good luck adding salt early in the cooking process. Vinegar. No, it’s an acid and that can inhibit the cooking process. Baking soda is helpful if your water has a low pH

Is soaking dried beans the same as cooking them?

To check soaked beans, take one out of the water and cut it in half with a sharp knife. If the color is even throughout, it’s ready to cook. ~commenter Camilla

No, but with two caveats. Not all dried legumes need to be soaked, peas and lentils are great examples. It is possible, in some recipes (those without tomatoes) if you’re patient, to cook beans from the dried state to the fully cooked state without soaking. Some say this increases their -hmm how do I put this delicately?- musical qualities.

You can’t boil beans that haven’t soaked and expect good results, they must be simmered gently for a long time. I can hear you asking, “What’s the difference between boiling and simmering?” Is there a difference? You bet. Boiling beans causes the protein to coagulate quickly making them tough, simmering beans slows down that change, the protein dissolves and is then reabsorbed later in the cooking process yielding more tender beans.

Do the quick soak methods for beans really work?

Yes, but you have to pay careful attention or you may accidentally boil the beans too soon which makes them tough.

Dry beans can go bad. When this happens no matter how long you soak them, they will never soften.

They do, if you cook the recipe too long, they will eventually fall apart. That said, the presence of calcium or sugar inhibits this process which is why your baked beans or ham and beans (when made with a ham bone) can be cooked for a significant period of time without falling apart.

This is why, unless the recipe has a very long cook time, the addition of sweet or acidic ingredients (like tomatoes) should be held to the end.

Slow cookers can be used to cook beans, with good results, provided the addition of acidic or sugary items is held until the beans are mostly cooked. So if your recipe for black beans includes tomatoes, I would hold the tomatoes until the last hour. Just be sure you know what setting to use on your slow cooker. In newer models the high setting may be over the boiling point, which if it isn’t clear by now, isn’t good for cooking dried beans. Test your slow cooker by filling it 2/3rds with water and checking at the 1 and 2 hour mark.

13 Comments

Rene Jalbeton July 1, 2012 at 12:24 pm

HELP! We tried dried black beans and mistakenly added salt and seasonings and wine after soakingl.. the beans are not getting tender even after hours of cooking… any fixees you know of? Thanks in advance, Rene

I don't soak my beans. (We're talking pintos, here.) I fry up 3-4 slices of bacon with my salt, pepper, and garlic, throw the rinsed beans in the pot, coat them with the bacon grease, then add the water. Bring to a boil, lower to a simmer, cover, and cook for 2-4 hours, adding water as needed. The beans always come out silky and the skins don't fall off. Serve it with some tobasco, cornbread, and fried potatoes and you've got a great southern meal. 😀

the tupelo journal had a big write up on cooking beans and it was highly recommended that overnight soaking of beans, the drain and use fresh water to cook because some beans can actually have a toxic chemical reaction without the soaking and change of water. i wish i had saved the article.

I have tried lentils many ways; I really wanted to like them and tried multiple TNT recipes from good cooks. However, I hated every one. They all seemed to taste like dirt, no matter what seasonings I added. A recipe much like this was in our curriculum when we were studying Esau and Jacob so we had to try it (gotta do what the curriculum says, right?). It was a hit and we all loved it and I have gone on to serve lentils many more times with wonderful results.

Here is a great lentil recipe to start with if you/your kids are not sure about them yet.

My father told me to never add salt to small whitebeans at the beginning. I didn't listen. I had small white rocks after cooking for several hours. Now I only add salt to small white beans towards the end of cooking. Have others had similar experiences? I do OK with all other types.

I find that if I cover my beans with about twice as much water the evening before I plan to use them and let them soak overnight, they are perfect to cook with the next day. (12 hours minimum) I then usually cook them in my slow cooker in the morning and have delicious beans for dinner. I have heard that you shouldn't add tomatoes or other acidic ingredients until close to the end of the cooking cycle. If you have a slow cooker, it does help a lot to prevent you from boiling them too hard.

So what exactly would I do if I wanted to cook them in the slow cooker, on low for example? I'm really ignorant on this subject, but I have bought some beans in the last year thinking I'd make them…but I haven't.

boil the dry hard bean and let soak over nite….. the next day rinse the beans till no more bubbles or until the water is clear this will take the undigestible sugars out of the bean we de-gas them…. pressure cook for 20 mins at 15psi or 60 minute on stove top. … as a rule pressure cookers take 1/3 the time vs conventional stove top methods.

That is good advice andI like to use my pressure cooker, too. However if someone is having trouble with cooking them in a standard pot or slow cooker, I'm not going to suggest they run out and buy new equipment to learn. While I'm sure there are some exceptions, pressure cookers are usually only found in the kitchens of those quite comfortable with cooking.
That's more of a Home Ec 201 skill 😉 I do plan on covering it, but I'm still tackling a lot of the basics as far as basic cooking skills.